My Selma: True Stories of a Southern Childhood at the Height of the Civil Rights Movement
by Willie Mae Brown (Author)
Combining family stories of the everyday and the extraordinary as seen through the eyes of her twelve-year-old self, Willie Mae Brown gives readers an unforgettable portrayal of her coming of age in a town at the crossroads of history.
As the civil rights movement and the fight for voter rights unfold in Selma, Alabama, many things happen inside and outside the Brown family's home that do not have anything to do with the landmark 1965 march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge. Yet the famous outrages which unfold on that span form an inescapable backdrop in this collection of stories. In one, Willie Mae takes it upon herself to offer summer babysitting services to a glamorous single white mother--a secret she keeps from her parents that unravels with shocking results. In another, Willie Mae reluctantly joins her mother at a church rally, and is forever changed after hearing Martin Luther King Jr. deliver a defiant speech in spite of a court injunction.
Infused with the vernacular of her Southern upbringing, My Selma captures the voice and vision of a fascinating young person--perspicacious, impetuous, resourceful, and even mystical in her ways of seeing the world around her--who gifts us with a loving portrayal of her hometown while also delivering a no-holds-barred indictment of the time and place.
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Kirkus
Brown uses language effectively to bring the times to life, and emerging from the retelling of her history are portraits of people who shaped her thought patterns and ways of being in her formative years. A panoramic yet intimate depiction of a family experiencing radical social changes.
Publishers Weekly
Brown's debut is a poignant collection of short stories that chronicles her upbringing in Selma, Ala., during the apex of the 1960s civil rights movement. The opening selection, "My Selma," depicts Brown's hometown as a beautiful place to grow up, populated by preachers, teachers, doctors, and candy store owners who make her life feel rich. Even so, Brown doesn't shy away from painting a picture of a town where "white men and white women rode through Negro neighborhoods in posses," terrorizing residents. Alongside this menacing element, Brown centers familial and community anecdotes, such as her family's buying a home and navigating what their passive-aggressive white neighbor Mr. Randall calls a "changing" neighborhood. White Selma residents' resistance to progress, and the civil rights movement taking place around them, grounds this intimate story in real-life events. By balancing personal struggles with racism with everyday joys of community, family, and resilience, Brown authentically imbues this clear-eyed tale with salient detail and historical resonance. As outlined in an introductory preface, Brown acknowledges that "everyone has his or her memories of a place and time when and where they lived," and that this depiction of Selma is one that she "knew and loved." Ages 10-14. (Jan.)
Copyright 2022 Publishers Weekly, LLC Used with permission.
Hornbook
Vivid sensory language is the book's great strength . . . A beautiful evocation of time and place . . . In her afterword, Brown says that 'hope is in the telling, ' and her stories offer a strong voice still needed in the ongoing struggle for justice.
Review quotes
JNF007110 - Juvenile Nonfiction | Biography & Autobiography | Social Activists
JNF025210 - Juvenile Nonfiction | History | United States/20th Century
Civil rights movements
Alabama
African American children
African American families
Selma
Selma (Ala.)
Brown, Willie Mae
